Citizens Electric replaces lawyers in pass-through case

Citizens Arizona Electric has hired new legal counsel for its pass-through rate case before the Arizona Corporation Commission.

The ACC on Wednesday disqualified the entire Brown and Bain law firm from representing Citizens, which seeks a rate increase to recover the increased wholesale cost of power purchased from Arizona Public Service.

Brown and Bain also has been representing Citizens in negotiation with Arizona Public Service about its wholesale power contract, which the commission sees as a conflict of interest.

"In my opinion, the APS/Citizens relationship is a major issue in this case."

As a result, Citizens named Robert Metli as legal counsel for the rate-increase case.

The case involves the pass-through cost of electricity purchased by Citizens from APS in the summer of 2000 and a new wholesale contract negotiated during 2001.

Under Arizona utility regulations, an electric utility that distributes power purchased from generation companies can pass that wholesale cost of the power along to retail customers under the Purchased Power Fuel Adjustment Clause.

During the summer of 2000, when wholesale power costs in the region increased because of the California power crisis, Citizens paid an extra $54 million for peak power delivered by APS.